Full-Text Articles in Religion

Circling The Elephant: A Comparative Theology Of Religious Diversity [Table Of Contents], John J. Thatamanil

Religion

Christian theologians have for some decades affirmed that they have no monopoly on encounter with God or ultimate reality; other religions also have access to religious truth and transformation. If so, the time has come for Christians not just to learn about but also from their religious neighbors. Circling the Elephant affirms that the best way to move toward the mystery of divinity is to move toward the mystery of the neighbor.

In this book, Thatamanil employs the ancient Indian allegory of the elephant and blindfolded men to argue for the integration of three, often-separated theological projects: comparative theology, constructive ...

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In “Mediating Suffering: Buddhist Detachment and Tantric Responsibility in Michael Ondaatje’s Anil’s Ghost,” Justin Hewitson argues that the global mediation of suffering following human rights abuses creates the offender-victim binary. The way in which moral judgments drive urgent peacemaking is seldom connected to long-term victimhood narratives. This psychology can exacerbate cyclical patterns of anger, exploitation, and violence by deferring responsibility. Ondaatje’s controversial novel, Anil’s Ghost, which reflects these charged accusations, refuses to settle blame on any side of the Sri Lankan conflict; instead, it offers the troubling recognition that offenders, victims, and mediators are all causal ...

Tathāgatagarbha And Ātman: Self Where There Is No-Self, Aaron Alexander Laughlin

IdeaFest: Interdisciplinary Journal of Creative Works and Research from Humboldt State University

Who Is The Viṣṇu Of The Viṣṇu Purāṇa?, Sucharita Adluri Ms.

Sucharita Adluri

Between the 12th to the 14th centuries, two commentaries on the Viṣṇu Purāṇa were composed by Viṣṇucitta (~12th CE) and Śrīdhara (13th–14th CE). Known as the Viṣṇucittīya and Ātmaprakāśa, they are interpretations from the perspectives of Viśiṣṭādvaita and Advaita Vedānta respectively. While the purāṇa weaves together Viṣṇu mythology of a creator god active in the world and worshipped in various forms with the upaniṣadic doctrine of the highest Self, this characterization undergoes various permutations in the hands of the two exegetes. In examining their commentarial strategies, this paper broadens our understanding of the Viṣṇu Purāṇa as not simply a ...

Jon P. Radwan

Twenty-first century research on sustainability and development advises organizations to work toward increased inclusivity and equality. Where modern theory stressed independence and autonomy, global communication and technology revolutions now require a holistic systems perspective stressing inter-dependence and balance. In particular, gendered exclusion patterns and misogyny have been identified as both ethically suspect and organizationally counter-productive. All religious traditions address gender relations, and despite patriarchal histories many wisdom traditions share valuable lessons on gender inclusivity. Within the Hindu tradition the Bhagavad Gita is a spiritual masterpiece with a profound message of unity, including both masculine and feminine manifestations of God. This ...

Theology Of Arcavatara And The Eucharist: A Comparative Study, James Adeoye

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The diversity in the world today is undeniable and quite imposing. The claim to uniqueness and universality of faith in each religious system cannot be sustained without factoring the implications and impacts of this claim on the well-being of humanity and reality hermeneutics. The postmodern world favors pluralism and encourages mutual respect for particular opinion, praxis, faith, theology and all forms of epistemology as they exist in the individual culture, religion and society. With this in mind, this work is a comparative analysis of the notion of avatars in Vaishnavism, a religious sect in Hinduism and the concept of the ...

The Impact India’S Socio-Cultural Environment Has On Its Residents Perceptions On Homosexuality., Harpreet Manko

Student Research Symposium Posters

While homosexuality exists in all civilizations of life and has been seen in various perspectives by all peoples, it is often seen as a taboo subject matter. Especially when considering the more religious, rather heteronormative environment that is seen in Indian communities. With my research, it is with this research that one will hope to learn what it is about India's socio-cultural environment that puts homosexuality in such a negative light.

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In this thesis, the Hindu devotional object will be tracked through many contexts and its role will change based on its geographic and cultural location. First, the original ritual context will be established, paying specific attention to ceremonial processes and actions that activate the objects. Next, I will sketch the approaches to interpretation used in the two museum spaces. In this movement between spaces, the Hindu object is de- and then re-contextualized. Museums can discover from this narrative the many ways that meaning is constructed, within and outside of a Western framework. It is this pivotal period of re-contextualization that ...

Who Is The Viṣṇu Of The Viṣṇu Purāṇa?, Sucharita Adluri Ms.

Philosophy & Comparative Religion Department Faculty Publications

Between the 12th to the 14th centuries, two commentaries on the Viṣṇu Purāṇa were composed by Viṣṇucitta (~12th CE) and Śrīdhara (13th–14th CE). Known as the Viṣṇucittīya and Ātmaprakāśa, they are interpretations from the perspectives of Viśiṣṭādvaita and Advaita Vedānta respectively. While the purāṇa weaves together Viṣṇu mythology of a creator god active in the world and worshipped in various forms with the upaniṣadic doctrine of the highest Self, this characterization undergoes various permutations in the hands of the two exegetes. In examining their commentarial strategies, this paper broadens our understanding of the Viṣṇu Purāṇa as not simply a ...

Yoga: Paths To Pain And Peace, Avni Kapadia

Writing Across the Curriculum

Hindus, by virtue of being part of a religion that varies tremendously amongst its followers in regards to beliefs and practices, have an understanding that there are many paths to enlightenment. Hindu scriptures and people acknowledge a concept known as karma. In this context, karma is a system of consequences related to actions. Actions performed during one lifetime determine the quality of the next life. This cycle of death and rebirth is known as samsara. Moksha is liberation from this cycle of reincarnation, through enlightenment. The paths of liberation from samsara include the path of devotion, the path of ...

Medieval Khmer Society: The Life And Times Of Jayavarman Vii (Ca. 1120–1218), Paul K. Nietupski

2019 Faculty Bibliography

Jayavarman VII (ca. 1120–1218) is one of the best known Cambodian “Angkor” leaders, in part because he was able to unite the numerous small, fragmented Khmer Cambodian and Cham kingdoms of the day. He ruled his consolidated Khmer kingdom from 1181–1218, bringing the decentralized Khmer and Cham states together through political and military alliances. Religion, especially India-derived Brahmanism, or “Hinduism,” Mahāyāna Buddhism, and local Cambodian religion, was a key component of Khmer society. Over time different Khmer rulers endorsed one or more of the religious systems to their own advantage. Jayavarman VII was especially committed to Mahāyāna Buddhism ...

Eternal Now: Recent Time Loop Movies And The Sanctity Of The Moment, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

I will examine three time-loop films—Source Code (2011), About Time (2013), and Before I Fall (2017)—to suggest that while they all look to this world as the place where meaning can be found, they do not entirely reject transcendence. The hero of Source Code actually transcends the cycle only when he accepts to exist in it fully, suggesting a view like Buddhism that one only finds transcendence when one stops looking for it. In About Time the hero learns that he must accept certain things that he cannot change, and that his ability to relive the past without ...

Journal of Religion & Film

This paper examines the tropes through which the Hindi (Bollywood) historical films Bajirao Mastani (2015) and Padmaavat (2018) create idealised pasts on screen that speak to Hindu nationalist politics of present-day India. Bajirao Mastani is based on a popular tale of love, between Bajirao I (1700-1740), a powerful Brahmin general, and Mastani, daughter of a Hindu king and his Iranian mistress. The relationship was socially disapproved because of Mastani`s mixed parentage. The film distorts India`s pluralistic heritage by idealising Bajirao as an embodiment of Hindu nationalism and portraying Islam as inimical to Hinduism. Padmaavat is a film about ...

Journal of Religion & Film

In the postcolonial nation state that is India, cinema has become an important tool for propagating the idea of nationalism. In recent times, one of the most controversial components of Hindu nationalism has been the hate campaign against what is termed as ‘love-jihad’, which is deployed as a weapon to mobilize, polarize, and communalize citizens. The Indian Hindi-language film industry, popularly known as Bollywood, has also become a controversial site. In this paper, I argue that if ‘Indian nationalism’ is to be represented as ‘Hindu nationalism’ and ‘Indian culture’ as ‘Hindu culture,’ it logically follows that this majoritarian construction needs ...

The World Parliament Of Religions, The Swami, And The Evangelist: Contextualizing Late 19th-Century American Responses To Hinduism, Anne Richards

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

This article explores how Hinduism and other religions and philosophies outside the Christian traditions were received by Americans influenced by secularism, science, globalization, and expanding U.S. imperialism in the late 19th century. The article also explores the role of two missionaries, John Henry Barrows and Swami Vivekananda, arguably the most influential participants in the World Parliament of Religions of 1893.

Get Karma, good—well rubbed into you—absorb it, wallow in it, and then you will batter down all the obstacles of life.—New York Times book review, 1896

Dayananda Saraswati And The Colonial Machines: Vedic Reformation, European Science, And Modernity In Colonial India, David Tauber

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports

The relationship between European science and religion has varied considerably through time and among different traditions. This monograph attempts to catalogue one such variant by exploring the context entrance of European science into the Indian subcontinent, at the beginning of the British colonial period, by focusing on how a single religion leader drew upon European notions of science in building his reformed Vedic theology. Dayananda Saraswati (1824-83) spent much of his life traveling northern India as an itinerate ascetic and ultimately founded an intellectual lineage that was instrumental in the Indian Independence movement. Despite having no formal British education included ...

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Benefits Of Past-Life Regression And Reincarnation, Taylor-Jo Russo

Student Publications

Reincarnation, or the belief in rebirth, is a fascinating belief that many cultures and different groups of people choose to subscribe to. While it typically accompanies various religions, the idea of reincarnation can be presented in other ways as well, such as regression therapy. Past-life regression therapy involves being hypnotized and recalling previous lives, memories, and information possible through levels of incarnations. Many therapists, psychologists, and even laymen attempt to use past-life regression therapy as a useful tool in overcoming anxieties, fears, dealing with every day concerns, and understanding phenomena. “Maintaining a critical eye but also an open mind. In ...

Sucharita Adluri

This article considers the Sravaisnava theologian Vedanta Desika's (14th-century CE) understanding of sabdapramana and deference to sabdapramana that is evident in one of his most important expositions the Tattvamuktakalapa and its commentary the Sarvarthasiddhi. For Desika, deference to sabdapramana is motivated by belief in a particular view of reality. This would be the acceptance of Visnu as the Brahman of the upanisads, his connection to authoritative scripture, and its propagation. Furthermore, to defer to sabdapramana requires membership in a community and the requisite pedagogical training that confers the authority needed to speak for the tradition.

Yoga In The Visnu Purana, Sucharita Adluri Ms.

Sucharita Adluri

Though scholarship on diverse methods of yoga in the Indian traditions abounds, there has not been sufficient research that examines the traditions of yoga in the puranas. The present paper explores yoga articulated in the Visnu Purana (fourth century CE) and argues that what seems like a unified teaching is a composite of an eight-limbed yoga embedded within an instruction on proto-Sämkhya. An evaluation of the key elements of yoga as developed in this text as a whole, clarifies our understanding of the emergence of yoga and its relationship to epic formulations on the one hand and to the Classical ...

Is Slumdog Millionaire A Retelling Of The Ramayana? (Hindi), William L. Blizek, Michele M. Desmarais

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a Hindi translation of the article that appears in English in this same issue.

Is a banner with a picture of Rama and Sita on it and the word, “Ramayana,” the only link between the film Slumdog Millionaire and the great Hindu epic? In this paper we explore elements in the film that correspond to elements in the Ramayana. There is no one-to-one correlation, and some relationships between the two are, in fact, mirror images. However, there are enough correlations and influences to suggest that the film might be considered a retelling of the Ramayana. We also acknowledge ...

Contextualization Of An Indian Christian Marriage: A Case Study, Chanchal Gayen

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"In this case study the Pheras ceremony was reinterpreted, but many of the cultural elements were retained. Biblical meanings were substituted for the cultural meanings that went against the teachings of Scripture. When doing this type of contextualization it is important to constantly pour Christian meanings into the cultural practice. Good biblical teaching is the antidote to syncretism, a danger that is always present while doing contextualization. The local people appreciated the fact that the wedding ceremony incorporated local cultural elements that were important to them. This approach also communicated the idea that Christianity is not a Western religion, but ...

Jewelry In Hinduism: A Mission Challenge, J. L. Samir

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"The issue of adornment and jewelry is a point of contention between Western and Eastern Christians. When Hindus accept Jesus Christ, they are expected to dispose of all adornment and jewelry before becoming members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. To Hindus, this is one of the confirmations that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is an agent of Western culture trying to replace their Eastern values and way of life. The Adventist position on adornment and jewelry is a challenge to many Hindus because of the different cultural ideals and meanings behind adornment within the South Asian context."

Kreeft's "Between One Faith And Another: Engaging Conversations On The World's Great Religions" (, Elizabeth Pearson

The Christian Librarian

Evolutionary Competition As Religion: A Religio-Biological Model Of The Maori And Vaisnava Sahajiya Traditions, Benjamin Highland

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Within the modern field of Religious Studies, there exists an epistemological divide between structuralist and post-structuralist thought. Structuralists seek to find underlying and universally applicable knowledge about religion, while post-structuralists argue that traditions must be studied within their own specific geographic, temporal, and cultural contexts. In an aim to reconcile these two disparate paradigms, I introduce the Religio-Biological Model and apply it to two distinct religious traditions: the Maori and the Vaisnava Sahajiya. Drawing from both religious and biological theory (specifically multilevel selection theory), this thesis seeks to create an interdisciplinary framework for the future study of religion that cohesively ...